Lynda Benglis
American, b. 1941Untitled, 1993Graphite and ink on wove paper24.1 x 30.3 cm (9 x 11 15/16 inches)The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services 2009.59.3

Lynda Benglis

Untitled

Lynda Benglis
American, b. 1941Untitled, 1993Graphite and ink on wove paper24.1 x 30.3 cm (9 x 11 15/16 inches)The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services 2009.59.3

This untitled drawing from 1993 conveys a sense of immediacy, physicality, and expressive exuberance that are characteristic of Benglis’s better-known sculptural work. The radiating layered lines infuse this drawing with intense energy, while the irregular circular forms recall cells or living organisms. According to Benglis, “Sometimes, I realize that drawings predict what I am thinking. … I only draw to release the idea in my consciousness, unconsciousness.”